AP European History AMSCO Guided Notes
1.1: Contextualizing Renaissance and Discovery
AMSCO Guided Notes
AP European History Guided Notes
AMSCO 1.1 - Contextualizing Renaissance and Discovery
Essential Questions
- What was the context for the development of the Renaissance and Age of Discovery?
I. Contextualizing Renaissance and Discovery
1. What role did the Roman Empire play in European society, and what happened to Europe after its fall?
2. How did the Crusades and the Black Death contribute to loosening the grip of the Church and feudal system?
3. What was the Renaissance and where did it begin?
A. Rediscovery of the Classical and Natural Worlds
1. How did the Renaissance represent a shift from medieval thought in terms of individualism and scholarship?
2. What role did technological innovations like the printing press play in challenging established institutions?
3. How did education change during the Renaissance in terms of religious versus nonreligious subjects?
B. Exploration and Territorial Expansion
1. What developments in navigation and cartography enabled European exploration and overseas colonization?
2. What were the motivations for European exploration, and what did explorers seek in distant lands?
3. What were both the beneficial and devastating consequences of the exchange between Europeans and indigenous populations?
4. How did Christianity influence European exploration despite the Church's declining influence during the Renaissance?
C. Commercial and Agricultural Capitalism
1. How did agricultural developments and the growth of a money economy change farming practices in Europe?
2. What role did advances in banking and finance play in creating a new economic elite class?
D. Struggle for Sovereignty
1. How did financial innovations help political leaders consolidate power and reshape European boundaries?
2. What was the relationship between economic changes and the fragmentation and territorial conflicts that followed?